Wired router recommendation to connect two subnets with a modem

[uzala10]

Hi,
Which router would be a good choice for this purpose? It's a home network with 2 subnets. On each subnet I have ASUS routers, which I want to connect with a wired router to connect to the modem. I don't need dual wan or many ports on this router, but it should provide good security.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Hi,
Which router would be a good choice for this purpose? It's a home network with 2 subnets. On each subnet I have ASUS routers, which I want to connect with a wired router to connect to the modem. I don't need dual wan or many ports on this router, but it should provide good security.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

I am not really sure what your end goal is for your network but if you find a router that you can flash Tomato on then Tomato using its GUI will let you create VLANS each with its own subnet as well as virtual APs which can be associated with its own subnet.

 

[uzala10]

I am not really sure what your end goal is for your network but if you find a router that you can flash Tomato on then Tomato using its GUI will let you create VLANS each with its own subnet as well as virtual APs which can be associated with its own subnet.

Thanks for your reply. I have split my network in two subnets with two routers and the two routers i have connected to a third router, which is older and too slow. Everything works fine, but I wand to replace this old router with a newer, faster router (at least 1 Gbps on each port). I don't need wireless or VPN or any other features except good firewall and other intrusion protection. Sorry for my lack of technical networking terms, I'm just starting to get into networking a bit.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Thanks for your reply. I have split my network in two subnets with two routers and the two routers i have connected to a third router, which is older and too slow. Everything works fine, but I wand to replace this old router with a newer, faster router (at least 1 Gbps on each port). I don't need wireless or VPN or any other features except good firewall and other intrusion protection. Sorry for my lack of technical networking terms, I'm just starting to get into networking a bit.

Still not clear how your network is setup. Does your ISP provide you with two public IPs from a single modem or do you have two modems and each of these modems is then connected to its own router? Perhaps if you provided a diagram of what you currently have someone could answer your questions better.

 

[uzala10]

Still not clear how your network is setup. Does your ISP provide you with two public IPs from a single modem or do you have two modems and each of these modems is then connected to its own router? Perhaps if you provided a diagram of what you currently have someone could answer your questions better.

I have attached a diagram, which hopefully is helpful. I have one IP address from my ISP.

 

[uzala10]

Sorry, here is the attachment.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Just about every current router that's sold has gigabit ethernet ports. So any of them will work. The only other router consideration is your internet speeds. If you have high download or upload speeds (e.g. >200Mbps) some cheaper routers might not be able to handle it.

 

[CaptainSTX]

I have attached a diagram, which hopefully is helpful. I have one IP address from my ISP.

You could do what you want probably with no more than two routers and maybe with just one depending on what your WiFi requirements are. If you need several subnets for wired devices consider using smart switches instead of routers. You can purchase a five port TP-Link smart switch for $22 and set up multiple port based VLANs on each switch. Devices won't be in different subnets but the VLANs will isolate devices or groups of devices from each other.

Then if any of the two routers that you are not considering replacing will handle your speed from the ISP move it to the location where you have the router that you want to replace. If you have WiFi devices that you want to isolate from your primary network have them connect to guest network on the router and prohibit them from connecting to intranet (devices in your local network.)

 

[Tech9]

Which router would be a good choice for this purpose?

Any router that can do the ISP speed, but your Asus routers are in double NAT and you may need to do port forwarding on it. What router do you currently have there? It does very little and may not need to be replaced. If you still want to replace it something like TP-Link ER605, Ubiquiti ER-X or MikroTik hEX may do what you want up to Gigabit speeds and at under $100 cost. ER605 is readily available and the easiest to setup, around $60.

You could do what you want probably...

Yes, but let @uzala10 do whatever they know. VLANs, custom firmware, managed switches, etc. may be too complicated.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Any router that can do the ISP speed, but your Asus routers are in double NAT and you may need to do port forwarding on it. What router do you currently have there? It does very little and may not need to be replaced. If you still want to replace it something like TP-Link ER605, Ubiquiti ER-X or MikroTik hEX may do what you want up to Gigabit speeds and at under $100 cost. ER605 is readily available and the easiest to setup, around $60.



Yes, but let @uzala10 do whatever they know. VLANs, custom firmware, managed switches, etc. may be too complicated.

If the OP can make his three router double NAT setup work he can setup VLANS on a smart switch as it is done right through the GUI. Now if he wants to setup 802.1q VLANS that is confusing even though it can also be handled in the GUI also. TP-Link has decent FAQs that can help anyone having problems implementing features.

Port forwarding should not be needed in his setup unless the OP wants to set up a server behind one of the double NATed routers. IMHO port forwarding probably is more complicated than setting up VLANS on a smart switch.

 

[Tech9]

Port forwarding should not be needed in his setup unless the OP wants to set up a server behind one of the double NATed routers.

Not needed for me and you, but gamers rely heavily on UPnP. May be a deal breaker at some point if not right now.

 

[uzala10]

The reason why I wanted two separate networks was, because I didn't want the Xbox on the same network. The diagram shows how I had the network before, but I didn't like it, because the Xbox was going through the main router. Then I came across subnetting and I still had the "old" router laying around, so I tried that. Everything is wired, except the mobile. I don't mind to tinker around and since I got more time now I like to play around with that stuff. I ordered already the TP-Link ER605 and it should arrive soon. Thanks everybody for the replies.

 

[Tech9]

Your Xbox may not be happy in this configuration.

 

[uzala10]

Your Xbox may not be happy in this configuration.

Why not?

 

[Tech9]

Because you have to do additional configuration on your upstream router to make it happy.

Xbox Support

support.xbox.com

 

[uzala10]

Because you have to do additional configuration on your upstream router to make it happy.

Xbox Support

support.xbox.com

If this is everything to make my Xbox unhappy, than I don't have to worry. Disabling Upnp on all of my routers is one of the first steps I do for security reasons. I can live without multiplayer gaming and chat. That's why I didn't notice any troubles with the Xbox, except the popup window for the Multiplayer settings once in a while.
Thanks Tech9

 

[Tech9]

If it works for you the way it is - your new ER605 is a good choice on reasonable price. It can also do Multi-WAN very well if you ever need it.